Mixed feelings. My deepest is that people need to be free of as many rules as possible. On the other hand, some names are asking for trouble. Remember Johnny Cash's song A Boy Named Sue. The Black community frequently creates names so as to avoid over influence by the white community's names. Some are great, but others seem to me a stretch. Knew a woman once whose mother wanted to name her Esther, but misspelled it Easter, which she bore all her life.

We used two principles in naming our kids. I've had trouble with forms all my life that want my middle initial, except I use my middle name as my given name. So we named each of our three with the first names we were going to call them. We also made sure their second names were good to go if they chose to use them instead. In the process, we passed on four family names as a link to their inherited past.

One of my friends is a nurse. A proud new mother announced to my friend she was naming her new baby girl Vagina. When Virginia was suggested as an alternate, the mother stuck to the original name.

My daughter had a part time job at a child care facility when she was in high-school. She told me there were twin boys there named Oo-'rahn-juh-lo and Lah-'mahn-juh-lo. The names were spelled Orange Jello and Lemon Jello. Although my daughter can usually be relied on to tell the truth, I didn't buy that.

All kidding aside, It is important what name you give your child. If your child is given her/his mother's maiden name as a first name, he/she is likely to have more financial success than otherwise. Assuming Vagina didn't get smart and chance her first name, she was headed toward a life of woe. Don't name your son Fauntleroy or Dudley as it may tell against him. In the USA, Sean is also pretty much a no-no. An old fashioned name like Hortensia and Prunella might push your daughter into being a wallflower. African names, created on demand from Swahili syllables, might not stand your daughter or son in good stead when it comes to getting a job. And don't name your son Sue.

In one branch of my family, one daughter in each generation was named Eliza Strother. There hasn't been a Strother surname in my family for over seven generations. The same is true of this name in many Southern families. The present leaders of this family are so proud of their name that they will let me be a bona fide Strother if I will grease their palms with a few gold coins. The Strothers are descended from a very early English king and once rubbed elbows with George Washington. I have been told this is not sufficient cause for me to call Queen Elizabeth, Cousin Liz.

Disagree on Sean. I know many Seans, both male and female, and sometimes spelled Shawn. The girl I know best had a father named John, and she was the eldest. (Sean = Irish for John, in case someone doesn't know.) All are respectable. The girl is a doctor. One guy that comes to mind is a physical therapist, and another is a fire chief.

I've also met quite successful and outgoing Seans. I think there are regional tastes in names and people often lean towards (common) Biblical names in more rural areas. In extremely insulated rural areas, the Biblical names can verge towards the scary (imho!). The more urban and diverse the community, the greater the range available. Parents can never predict where their children will wind up, of course, and middle names are often an option for those who don't want to legally change a first name that just doesn't fit.

It always irritates me to see names guaranteed to reap grief imposed on infants. Children are not casual possessions to be saddled with ridiculous, obscene, or repellant names because their parents think it's cute, or they are too (stubborn? willfully stupid? cruel?) to understand the ramifications of their whim-filled choices. My parents went out of their way to choose names which did not immediately lend themselves to unpleasant nicknames, even taking middle names and initials into consideration. We all had a creative classmate anyway -- -- but nothing unbearable.

We frequently identify names with famous or infamous people of that name. I know it is not fair, but being named after someone infamous might work against you. I have a friend named Tim McVeigh and he has done alright. He is a successful surgeon and theologian. My grandfather was named Adolphus but that wasn't close enough to Adolf to cause any comment.

Slava: I believe I mentioned males and females both when I was discussing middle names. That is what I mean by she/he and her/him. I refuse to write they or them when a singular pronoun is needed.

My dislike for the name Sean may be a local thing or it may be just my lot in knowing the Seans I have known. If it is spelled Shawn that is entirely different. If you are Scottish or Irish then Sean might be alright. Otherwise it seems an affectation.

Algernon, a male name roughly meaning "bearded", has many applications and connotations. Most of them are negative. I have never considered this as a name anyone would have. Is that your middle name, Perry? I have a wimpy middle name. It is Wayne. I have been nicknamed Pip (See Dickens' "Great Expectations") and Flip (as in the comic Wilson). I abominate nicknames.